Posts Tagged →handmade

The useful, mobile and beautiful shepherd hut is slowly making its way over to North America. Thanks to the Pixie Palace Hut Co. and now the Güte Shepherd Hut from Canada, tiny house lovers in the U.S. and Canada can have their own modern shepherd hut on traditional cast iron wheels.

Güte is a family run company of craftsman and builders originally from Germany, but now they build their exquisite shepherd huts in Southern Ontario. Güte is a German word used to describe goodness, quality, a benefit, or an asset and these huts are handcrafted with elegant details and custom furniture and delivered right to your home.

Güte has two different models: The Classic and The Collingwood. The Classic is 7′ wide and either 12′ or 14′ long and the Collingwood is 7′ wide and 14′ or a 16’6″ long. The 16’6″ long hut requires a building permit. Each hut is insulated with batt insulation, waterproofed and the exterior siding is painted with your chosen color. The roof can be either western red cedar shakes or galvanized steel. The interior of each hut contains painted pine wood floors, beaded paneling or veneered plywood on the walls, thermal pane glass windows and woodwork finishing like nothing I’ve seen in any shepherd hut before. The Dutch door made from solid white oak is the pièce de résistance of these shepherd huts.

Each hut is also outfitted with Güte’s own, custom modular furniture designs that fit within the small space. The furniture can be made from oak, ash, maple, walnut, cherry and even mahogany and teak. Furniture includes drop down desks and tables, cupboards, shelves, bookcases, folding beds and dining booths with custom mattresses or even bunk beds.

Other custom details include a cast iron wood burning stove or a contemporary ventless ethanol fireplace, a hand forged brass sink with traditional pump, 120 volt wiring with outlets and a solar panel system with inverter and battery bank.

Prices for each hut will vary according to size, customer needs, types of wood used and delivery distance. The version shown here runs around $32,900. The company does have plans for an unfinished pine model of the hut for around $20,000. Please contact Güte for your particular design needs.

The December issue of the Tiny House Magazine has a story about handmade, wooden truck campers in it and one of most talked about versions on the Web is the whimsical truck camper designed and built by Handmade Matt. Matt is a craftsman and tiny house enthusiast from Surrey, England and is currently available as a consultant for anyone looking to build their own tiny house—on or off a 4×4 truck.

Matt’s step-by-step process of the camper build is available on his website, and while the camper has been sold to a new owner in Sweden, Matt has recently finished up a new design. The vision for the first camper was to create a traditional looking removable camper with modern comforts. The camper is fully insulated, has solar power with 12v outlets and inverter. It contains a full kitchen with running water from a 13 gallon tank and a refrigerator, a two burner stove and a heater. There is an emergency composting toilet for when a public bathroom is not available.

“I wanted a four wheel drive camper and I have woodworking skills. It was the cheapest and most stimulating option,” Matt said. “The design was inspired over the years by all the things I have seen, a lot from Lloyd Kahn’s books. I am actually featured in his latest book, “Tiny Homes on the Move” with another cabin that I have built. I make no real plans when building, it all comes from my imagination. I make it up as I go along, no drawings, limited forethought. The projects just evolve.”

Matt said his favorite part of this particular build was the finishing touches.

“It’s when the magic happens and the whole vision comes together,” he said. “It’s finally when other people can see what was in my imagination all along. It’s a way of getting something that is inside me to come out into the world.”

Matt and his girlfriend took the camper all over the UK, through the southern English counties and into Wales. It did just fine in the mountains and also served as a home for his girlfriend who worked at various festival events.

For future builds by Handmade Matt, keep an eye on his website or the Tiny House Blog.

Russ and Sherry may be familiar to anyone who reads the farming magazine and blog, Grit. The Michigan couple are known for the Russ-Stick Ramblings column which was named after their 40 acre Russ-Stick Acres farm where they live with their Alaskan and Siberian sled dogs in a small cordwood house named the Wee House. The 300 square foot Wee House has been their home for several years, but after last season’s harsh winter is due for a makeover, which they will cover in their blog.

The Wee House in winter

Along with the Wee House, Russ and Sherry have an outhouse called the Wee Wee House, a summer kitchen, a meditation house named the Trapper, a guest house named the Bear’s Den and a small pump house—all built by Russ. All the homes are heated by wood stoves and The Bear’s Den is available for rent during winter months for $45 per night.

Russ, one of his goats and the Trapper house

The Bear’s Den

Russ plans to extend the Wee House to include an underground portion and even some space for their chickens and rabbits, who live on the farm with the couple’s lambs, horses, Silver Fox rabbits, goats, cows and pigs. Russ-Stick Acres also produces maple syrup, firewood and Amish made products including jams, rugs, bird houses and quilts. Their Grit column cover everything from animal husbandry to country recipes.

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